Dwayne Johnson Discusses Hercules and G.I. Joe

During the CinemaCon In Las Vegas, Collider got the chance to speak with Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson in which he spoke about GI Joe, Fast Six and Hercules!

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By CronoA7X - 4/25/2012

And what I’m doing after that, I’m getting ready to shoot Fast 6. I think we’re going over to London to shoot that and maybe Berlin, and then after that it’s on to New Zealand and I’m playing Hercules, and I can’t wait.

Personally, I will find it a little weird to see a Hercules movie without Kevin Sorbo, but I am very much looking forward to this! And it seems this version of Hercules will be a much darker tale!

Hercules: The Thracian plot summary:
Nearly 3,200 years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth as neither man nor god: Hercules, powerful son of the god-king Zeus, and for this he received nothing but suffering. After 12 arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding solace only in bloody battle. Over the years, he warmed to the company of six similar souls, bonded by their love of fighting and the presence of death never questioning where they go or who they fight, just how much they will be paid. Now the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to turn his men into the greatest army of all time, which means training them to be as bloodthirsty and ruthless as their own reputation. It is time for this band of lost souls to finally have their eyes opened to how far they have fallen and the narrow, perilous path to their own redemption.

Here's a tidbit on their discussion concerning G.I. Joe.

When I see you and I see G.I. Joe, it’s like a perfect marriage. When they approached you for this movie, were you sorta like, “Yeah I’m in”?

Johnson: I was even more than “Yeah I’m in.” But also too, you wanna be a little bit poised with your excitement at first. When I first heard it, the idea of starring in G.I. Joe, first of all you get a second crack at something that is—the franchise is that big, the title is that big, the first one did well [but there was] room for improvement. We get a second crack at bat with this; I wanted to grab this by the throat and not let go. The moment I locked in, we all agreed, I’m in. I trained my ass off for this role, wanted to become Roadblock, wanted to pay homage to the mythology of G.I. Joe, and not only that but then pay honor and respect to our military in a real way where it’s gritty and rooted and grounded and boots to the ground, and we’re not shootin’ off lasers and shit; these are real rounds. Excuse my language, but I’m gettin’ excited right now. I’m gonna throw a chair in a minute (laughs).

Also, we wanted to pay homage to and elevate the fantastical side of G.I. Joe with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow and the incredible ninjas that we have. It was a great blend of worlds, collision of worlds, and when they came to me with the idea of starring in it it was like, there’s the throat, there’s the grab, I’m in.

When you first were talking with Jon Chu, did he give you an issue of the comic or an episode of the cartoon, or was it all in the script?

Johnson: No, but I was already familiar with the cartoons and the comics anyway, and the mythology. We brushed up even deeper into the mythology because Jon has a great passion anyway for G.I. Joe. And here’s what’s amazing about Jon, he credits his storytelling ability to G.I. Joe. When he was a kid, he would set up these scenarios with his action figures, create sandpits and everything like that, go to school and come back, and they were these weeklong sagas. It’s funny how everything comes full-circle. The first time I sat with Jon, I said, “Just give me an idea of the tone of the movie,” that’s the only thing I wanted to know, because I had my own interpretation of Roadblock and how we were gonna pay homage to G.I. Joe and the mythology, and I said, “Just give me an idea of the tone,” and he said, “Rooted and real and bad ass.”

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He makes you smile when he talks. He has so much charisma! lol. I like that he is in it, he seems to care about the characters etc. Most actors can't even name drop other characters from a movie, you can tell he KNOWS his shit lol.